grand cayman accommodations - shore diving hidden gems

[rick00001967]

hello

i have only been to grand cayman once. this was 3 or 4 years back. i got lucky and had found a small cottage for cheap. plenty of room. kitchen. no pool but i was on my own was only there for the diving. sadly that cottage is no longer a rental property.

i have searched hi and low for decent properties for rent. the rates are insanely high there. we have a couple we may be willing to rent but none are ideal.

i thought maybe it was worth a shot to ask people here if they were willing to share any info they might have for places not easily found online for rent.

in a perfect world we would love to have a place on the shore with easy reef access (perhaps along the north west shore ? open to other suggestions though). a studio or one bedroom with a kitchen and a pool if possible. but the pool is not a deal breaker.

pls feel free to send a private message if you do not want it broadcast to the world. haha

we appreciate any suggestions at all.

thx
rick

 

[tkaelin]

What is your price range

 

[FindingMenno]

You can try ecaytrade.com to see if anyone is temporarily renting out a house/room, for example as they're off-island for a vacation.

Unfortunately that perfect world you are picturing does not come cheap!

 

[rick00001967]

What is your price range

we typically would only spend about 1500 canadian for 2 weeks accommodations. that usually gets us a pretty nice place with a kitchen and sometimes a pool. right now that is only about 900 u.s. we realize with the low candian dollar right now that we will probably need to spend a bit more than usual.

we did find a really nice studio. a bit small but big enough. with a kitchen and pool. free wifi. for about 1600 canadian for 2 weeks. but it is not on the shore so we would need to drive every where for diving. not the end of the world but not ideal.

i think the best we have found so far that is on the water, free wifi, kitchen, pool, was about 2300 canadian. by cayman standards that might be a decent price. unfortunately by our standards that is really high.

 

[KathyV]

What time of year do you want to travel? The rates change with the seasons.

Is this trip all about diving or what other things do you like to do besides dive and enjoy the pool? Are you both divers?

 

[KathyV]

Take a look at Paradise Pointe Apartments at the link below. No pool but they are situated on the sea just north of Seven Mile Beach.

https://www.paradisepointerentals.com/

 

[diversteve]

If "shore" means shore dive, those options are limited. Nothing along SMB has a dive. I believe all the Lighthouse Pt. condos are 2br but check. Probably more than you want to spend but Divetecch is onste. there's a good shore dive. I believe the restaurant is vegan - everything else is a drive.

I vaguely remember there being a few 1br condos at Hepps condos - they have a ladder there so you can access the Hepps Wall/Arch sites from there.They're on vrbo.com - there's only a couple.
Drive for food from there also - it's a smaller property

The Coconut Bay properties are all 2-3 br IIRC. They have a dive - Stingray Watersports is onsite plus the owner owns at least one of the rental condos. A short walk from Turtle Reef/Macabuca/Cracked Conch.

Some of the SMB condos are 1br. IDK what they call it now but there's a few at the old Treasure Island complex. No dive there but food is walking distance and downtown a short cab ride.

If you can work around the cruisers - Eden Rock, Devils Grotto, Cheeseburger (Lobster Pot), Fosters, all have dives. Note - some days there's 4-5 cruise ships in port. One thing we noticed is that some of the better restaurants are still open after the ships sail when downtown is almost deserted. We snuck in a late dive at Eden Rock but they were locking up once we returned their tanks.

There's also one smaller condo complex just south of Fosters that seemed to have a dive - sorry I don't recall the name. It should be named on google maps. I found it once - probably on vrbo - there's just a couple rentals in the whole place.

There's also the Turtle Nest Inn properties in Bodden Town which are more affordable, my sisters family used to stay there but food options are limited, it's too shallow to dive (nice beach though) and it's about 20mins to downtown. Diving would be with a shop in town or 15-20mins the other way with Ocean Frontiers - my buddy dives with them from there. No shore diving in that area.

Even at double your price, there just aren't a lot of small rental options on dive sites. I found 2-3 house rentals in a small area just a little south of Lighthouse Pt. once that advertised being on a dive site but all were 3-4 br. And pricier with private pools etc.Was actually too small for our group.

good luck,

 

[KathyV]

We love Turtle Nest Inn in Bodden Town. We get a 1 bedroom apartment with a full kitchen and a rental car is included in the apartment rental costs. They also have condos for rent. It's on the water and they have 2 pools on the property - and a nice little beach and good snorkeling right offshore. There are some good, casual, local places to eat nearby and supermarkets for groceries, but it's a more residential area and not a place with a lot of restaurants, bars, or activities.

TNI is centrally located so it isn't terribly far from anything, but it is not a good choice if you want to do a lot of diving because you will have to drive to meet the boats or drive to the shore dive sites and the rush hour traffic can be bad.

When we stay at TNI and we want to boat dive we usually drive East to Ocean Frontiers or Tortuga, it's about a 30 minute drive and the traffic isn't bad on that end of the island; but it's not convenient if you want to make daily early morning boat dives. Ocean Frontiers offers 2 tank afternoon dives so that might be a nice option for you.

When we want to shore dive we usually drive to the West Bay area, north of Seven Mile Beach to dive Turtle Reef at Macabuca or some of the other shore dive sites. Sunset House near George Town is the nearest shore dive to TNI. The TNI price is higher than you are looking for, but it's quite reasonable for GC and a very nice property IMO, see link below:
Cayman Hotels :: Turtle Nest Inn, Grand Cayman - Exotic, Affordable Beachfront holiday

TNI also manages a small, 1-bedroom cottage called Sea Spray Cottage, see the link below, and you would have access to the pools at the Inn, but it is more than you hope to spend, see below:
Turtle Nest Affiliates :: Turtle Nest Inn, Grand Cayman affiliates- Accommotaion Beachfront holiday

A lot depends on how much diving you want to do? If you plan to do a lot of diving then it is better to stay at a dive resort or at a place nearer to the dive ops because traffic on GC can be bad, especially during rush hours. If you stay in the 7MB area then the dive shops will pick you up, but the hotel and condo rates are the highest in that area of the island.

Take a look at Cobalt Coast, they have a few free-standing cottages or suites adjacent to the resort that have kitchens, but I don't know how much they cost to rent.

Most people that go to CC stay in rooms at the resort and buy the all-inclusive packages that includes diving, food, and accommodations. CC is located north of 7MB, up near Hell, and they do provide airport transfers but it would be nice to have a car for at least part of the time to explore the island. There is a shore dive onsite but it tends to get winded out in the winter months.

You could buy one of the cheaper CC packages that includes 2 boat dives per day, shore diving, and 2 meals a day and then spend some time in the afternoons exploring the island and checking out places to eat lunch; see the link below:
Cobalt Coast

You could also look at the Grand Caymanian Holiday Inn, they have some 1-bedroom suites with a full kitchen. They are on the water and have a pool (or pools?). DiveTech has an onsite dive shop there and they will transport you to their Lighthouse Point property to board boats to dive or to shore dive right there. The Grand Caymanian is in the West Bay area and they provide shuttles to 7MB, but it would be best to have a car.
Holiday Inn Resort Grand Cayman

While you are comparison shopping the rental costs on GC, make sure that you are comparing "apples to apples" because in addition to a 13% sales tax, there may be service charges and resort fees added on to the cost of rental properties (and I think that the Morritt's resort charges a fee for using electricity.)

At TNI there will be a 13% tax added to the listed rate but no additional charges.

The all-inclusive rates for Cobalt Coast include the taxes, service charges, airport transfers, meals, accommodations, and diving - the only extra cost is the dive op tips - and a rental car if you decide to get one.

I don't know how they calculate the charges at the Grand Caymanian Holiday Inn.

I don't think that you will find much in your price range, but there are options in various price ranges. Good luck!

 

[rick00001967]

https://www.paradisepointerentals.com/

we did see this one. good choice. it is perfect except for no pool. but we can live without that. problem is it would cost us about $3000 canadian to stay there.way too expensive for us.

 

[diversteve]

yeah the exchange rate is going to price you out of Grand Cayman for the most part.About the cheapest I've seen is an old apt. complex near Georgetown that they rent weekly or the two Suites properties - Comfort Suites or Sunshine Suites - neither is waterfront but both have pools and on-site/affiliated dive operations for a slightly better package deal. Some of the Comfort suites have full kitches - IDK about SS. There's also the B&B in West Bay but they don't have kitchens just bedrooms. I think it's called Shangri-La?

When you're going is also important - if it's this winter - welcome to High Season rates - everything is effectively doubled. Even the Suites jump to several hundred a day or more.